An Inverness lecturer who paints with gunpowder will be back with a bang at an exhibition this week.

Frank To, who counts well-known names including actors Sir Ian McKellen, David Tennant and Sir Patrick Stewart among his collectors, will be exhibiting in Dundee this week.

The Inverness College lecturer started experimenting with his unusual technique three years ago.

Since then he has been developing his use of the volatile powder, this time focusing mainly on the natural world.

It has been five years since Mr To last exhibited at Gallery Q in Dundee, the city in which he gained his masters of fine arts from Duncan of Jordanstone.

Now aged 36, he was the only Scottish male artist to be selected at the Royal Society of British Artists in London and the Royal Cambrian Academy in Wales last year. His work has been shown at various royal academies across the UK and has won him international recognition.

Mr To said: “I am always pushing boundaries – that’s what being an artist is all about. That’s why I decided to use gunpowder. No one else was doing it and so I wanted to try it and to contribute something new to the art world. It is important to me to use a substance, which is source of violence, for peaceful purposes. I hope people will find my new pieces challenging on many different levels.”

The exhibition “Into The Fire”, runs until Saturday at the Nethergate gallery.

Help support quality local journalism … become a digital subscriber to The Press and Journal

For as little as £5.99 a month you can access all of our content, including Premium articles.